Thursday, July 19, 2007

SEE YOU SUNDAY

I'm taking a couple more days off from the blog. We're taking my younger daughter to her college orientation on Saturday, I'll probably get back to blogging by Sunday.

Only 549 days left!

Feel free to comment on this or any other recent posts here! Have a good Friday and Saturday!

Here are a few things I might be seeing during the next couple of days:

View of the Blue Mountains, not too far west of La Grande, Oregon. The first 30 minutes of the drive west from town on I-84 goes through pine and fir forests. Then the freeway descends 2,000 feet to the rolling hills of the agricultural and grassland area around Pendleton (home of the Pendleton Woolen Mills and the Pendleton Round-Up... yee haw!)


This Oregon Trail marker is out in the flatlands near Boardman, Oregon. This is what the scenery looks like about 45 miles further west along I-84 from Pendleton. Boardman, population about 2,500, is trying to get a NASCAR facility built near the town. How exciting!


About two hours more, west past Boardman, this is Vista House viewpoint above the Columbia River gorge. The viewpoint is about 30 miles east of Portland, Oregon. I-84 is visible in the lower center part of the picture. If we have some time, we might take old Highway 30 instead of the freeway, because the old route goes past numerous scenic waterfalls.


College orientation will take place here. P.S.U. (home of the Vikings) is basically in downtown Portland, kind of at the south edge of downtown. It's a comfortable campus, and it borders Portland's series of downtown "park blocks". Lots of nice old trees, and an occasional street crazy here and there!


7 Comments:

Blogger 1138 said...

Rove is turning up the fear trumpet again.
The closer the days get the more danger there is - from this administration both in not protecting us from others, and in not protecting us from them.

9:09 AM  
Blogger Snave said...

1138, you are very correct here, and as always, way more concise than I can ever be! 8-)>

549 days is WAY too long for these knuckleheads to be in office when it comes to the rate of acceleration re. their power-grabbing. It seems to me, anyway, that as time passes we see more and more blatant attempts by the administration to concentrate power in the executive branch. The Constitution was designed to protect America from such things, and I hope it can hold up under the increasing strain.

As for not protecting us from others, I am totally pissed off by hearing the newscasters announcing that "Al Qaeda is back". The real news (DUH!): "AL QAEDA NEVER WENT AWAY!" I happen to think that nipping off its head ASAP after 9/11/01 would have been a great way to control it lots more than has been done. Bush didn't really lance the boil after 9/11/01, and if you give a big boil more than five years to grow back and fester, it's bound to pop. Our military has been focused not on Al Qaeda but on Iraq, and of course Al Qaeda is still around, now apparently based in Pakistan, and with "affiliates" popping up all over... I wonder why they are in Iraq now! And gee, Pakistan has nukes and its government is under attack at home from the religious fanatics.

How could our country's foreign and domestic policies have been mismanaged any more poorly over the past 5 1/2 years, and how can so many people still support the Bush administration?

I find it utterly mind-boggling.

Even while I see GOP incumbents frantically scrambling to separate themselves from Bush as much as they can, which is fun to watch, it bothers me to think that a substantial number of voters will still be supporting the Republican party in 2008 anyway. This speaks to the Dems not having a message that has not been articulated well enough for America to embrace.

One thing has been beyond apparent to me for some time now: to just sit back and watch while Bu$hCo implodes is not a winning strategy for the Democrats. One positive thing I'm noticing lately is that the Dems seem to be closing their ranks a bit more, that the party seems to be less fragmented in Washington, DC. While I don't like lockstep stuff, I do think the Dems need to do this to counter b.s. like the "herding cats" analogies.

It will be tough to counter the "do-nothing Congress" attacks we have already been hearing from the right-wing talkers. I expected this to happen... I'm not sure how good the Dems will be at pointing out that they have been trying to do what the people put them in office to do, but the GOP has blocked them at every opportunity so far.

I DON'T think the Dems should be blamed for a lack of effort... I DO think the GOP side of Congress should be blamed for being such diehard Bush supporters when most of the public has been repeatedly shown to be NOT supportive of Bush's policies.

10:20 AM  
Blogger Jim Marquis said...

Man, that Vista House view is really awesome.

That drive down the hill into Pendleton can be pretty insane. Especially if there's any amount of fog.

5:13 PM  
Blogger sumo said...

I have driven this route many times and on the train also. It's a wonderful drive. I especially love Kliticat(?).

7:40 PM  
Blogger Sheryl said...

I wonder if they actually impeached Bush and Cheney whether they could use that as an excuse to reverse some of the precedents they have been trying to set.

8:21 PM  
Blogger Elvez73 said...

Great pics, I love Oregon.

4:49 PM  
Blogger PoliShifter said...

very nice pictures

9:31 PM  

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